The Muslims claim Palestine as an integral part of Jazirat-ul-Arab. They are bound to retain its custody, as an injunction of the Prophet. But that does not mean that the Jews and the Christians cannot freely go to Palestine, or even reside there and own property. What non-Muslims cannot do is to acquire sovereign jurisdiction. The Jews cannot receive sovereign rights in a place which has been held for centuries by Muslim powers by right of religious conquest. The Muslim soldiers did not shed their blood in the late War for the purpose of surrendering Palestine out of Muslim control. I would like my Jewish friends to impartially consider the position of the seventy million Muslims of India. As a free nation, can they tolerate what they must regard as a treacherous disposal of their sacred possession?

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Source: Notes in Young India (6 April 1921).

About this quote

Bitter disputes often turn on what each side holds sacred and will not surrender, something the other side barely registers. Progress starts when each party honestly considers how the ground looks from the opposite position, rather than assuming its own claim is the only one that counts.

When to use it

  • Two siblings fighting over a house finally ask what each of them truly cannot bear to give up.
  • Neighbors deadlocked over a shared fence sit down to hear why the old tree matters so much to one of them.
  • Business partners in a standoff each spell out the one term they would walk away rather than concede.